X79 - The Last Intel Enthusiast Platform?
It started a few months back when a leaked Intel roadmap suggested that socketed CPU's were on the way out. With half of the upcoming Haswell processor offerings designated as BGA (surface mounted) assemblies and only a question mark in the "enthusiast" row, it looked as though Intel was moving away from the DIY/enthusiast market. The cornerstone of which is the ability to mix and match motherboards and CPU's at will.
Within days, Intel's closest competitor, AMD, announced its undying affection for sockets. Proclaiming no end in sight in satiating desires for devotees of the free and open CPU socket. That resulted in an almost instantaneous response from Intel asserting that socketed designs would continue for the "foreseeable future." Which from current roadmaps appears to be at least 2015.
Last week came official word from Team Blue that the release of Haswell would be the last Intel branded motherboards to be offered by the company. Signaling an intention to focus resources on the more lucrative mobile and SOC markets dominated by Nvidia and Apple.
Again speculation swirled that this was the beginning of the end of the desktop market. Intel was never as big a player selling motherboards to the enthusiast market as the likes of ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. Still, their presence was often the foundation for many OEM PC builds and served as a kind of reference design. If Intel made a board, consumers knew that this was going to be the foundation for all the rest to build on.
With plans to exit the motherboard market that raises the question of the veracity of their commitment to desktops in general. Chipsets are planned up to at least Haswell (x87) but a look at the family's enthusiast offering shows an a flagship CPU that runs not on a new chipset but rather repurposes the Sandy Bridge-E X79 platform. You read that right, Intel will likely offer four different Haswell chips as an upgrade option for an aging 2 year old platform.
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